Trujillo Molina, Rafael Leónidas

(b. 24 Oct. 1891; d. 30 May 1961) Dominican; President 1930 – 8, 1943 – 52 A former estate overseer, telegraph operator, and petty thief, Trujillo joined the Dominican army during the US occupation (1916 – 24) and rose rapidly, becoming national police chief in 1925 and army commander in 1927. He took political power in 1930, arranged rigged elections that year and brutally repressed all opposition within the Dominican Republic.

Famed for his megalomania, Trujillo had the capital city, Santo Domingo, renamed Ciudad Trujillo, christened himself "the Benefactor", and authorized a personality cult based on terror. He also took personal control of large parts of the Dominican economy, expropriating the sugar estates and cattle ranches of opponents. In 1937 Trujillo ordered the massacre of some 20,000 Haitians living and working in the border area between the two countries. He organized an efficient network of informers and security forces, managing to suppress several planned uprisings.

In 1938 Trujillo handed over the titular presidency to Jacinto Peynado while remaining effectively in sole charge of the country. He resumed the title in 1943 and then in 1952 passed it to his brother, Héctor. In 1960 Joaquín Balaguer became puppet president.

Trujillo's human rights abuses began to attract international attention in the 1950s, and his regime became more isolated when in 1960 he ordered his agents to assassinate Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt, a long-time critic. The attempt failed and led to sanctions from the Organization of American States.

Trujillo was assassinated in 1961 by a group of army officers and civilians, allegedly with CIA backing. His brother, Ramfis, tried to hold on to power but was soon overthrown, ushering in a confused period of near civil war.

While Trujillo is mainly remembered for his dictatorial style and delusions of grandeur, many Dominicans recognize also that he provided a period of stability and reinforced the concept of Dominican nationhood after decades of chaos. Many of the country's institutions and much of its infrastructure can be traced back to his long reign.

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina (1891-1961) presided for 31 years over what was probably the most absolute and ruthless dictatorship in Latin America at that time. Coming to power in 1930, he controlled the government of the Dominican Republic until he was assassinated.

Rafael Trujillo was born on Oct. 24, 1891, the son of lower-middle-class parents. He received a rudimentary education and then held various jobs. His first step toward his future career was taken on Dec. 9, 1918, when he was accepted for training as an officer in the Constabulary Guard, then being organized by the U.S. Marines, who were occupying the Dominican Republic. Emerging from training, he rose rapidly in the new military organization. Soon after Horacio Vázquez was inaugurated as president in 1924, Trujillo was named second-in-command of the Guard. On June 22, 1925, he became its commander in chief.

Gen. Trujillo came to the presidency as the result of a crisis during the early months of 1930. During a revolt against President Vázquez, Gen. Trujillo remained "neutral." As a result, Vázquez resigned, a provisional government was established, and elections were called. However, real power was in the hands of Trujillo, who proclaimed his candidacy for president. Supporters of his opponent were jailed, beaten up, and killed, thus assuring Trujillo's victory.

Soon after taking office, Trujillo was faced with a major natural disaster, a hurricane that virtually wrecked the capital city, Santo Domingo. He used this incident to place the country under martial law and took energetic steps to clear up the damage, take care of refugees, and start to rebuild the capital. Six years later the city council of Santo Domingo renamed the city Ciudad Trujillo in honor of this event. This was the first of many honors Trujillo in effect granted to himself. These included renaming half the provinces after him and members of his family, creating numerous decorations of which he was the first and sometimes the only recipient, renaming streets after him throughout the republic, and building numerous monuments in his honor.

Trujillo was in unchallenged control of the government. He served as president from 1930 to 1938, chose a puppet to succeed him then, but returned as president in 1942, remaining until 1954. He then chose his youngest brother, Hector, to occupy the post. In 1960, when the Trujillo regime was under strong international pressure, Hector Trujillo gave way to Vice President Joaquín Balaguer, who served until February 1962, nine months after Rafael Trujillo's death.

Even when out of office, Rafael Trujillo dominated the government. He remained commander in chief of the armed forces. All secret police services reported directly to him. As head of the only legal political party, he sent to Congress the name of a successor to anyone who resigned from that body, according to provisions of one of the several constitutions he had written. He also held the undated resignations of all public officeholders and submitted these when it suited his fancy. As a result, in one 4-year period, there was more than a 200 percent turnover among the members of the Chamber of Deputies.

Trujillo also completely dominated the economy of the country. He allotted various sectors to members of his family. His wife controlled imports and exports; his various brothers dominated radio and television, prostitution, and some manufacturing industries. Trujillo himself concentrated on agriculture, grazing, and industry, forcing all but one of the nation's sugar-producing firms to sell out to him, seizing vast estates from Dominican owners, and including himself as partner in virtually every industrial enterprise in the country. His fortune was estimated in the late 1950s at about $500 million.

Trujillo frequently interfered in the affairs of neighboring countries. When men who had attempted to assassinate Venezuelan president Rómulo Betancourt early in 1960 admitted that they had been sent by Trujillo, a special conference of the Organization of American States proclaimed a partial economic boycott of the Dominican Republic.

On May 30, 1961, Trujillo was assassinated on the outskirts of the Dominican capital. Within 6 months his whole family was in exile, and what he himself had called the Trujillo Era was at an end.

Further Reading

The two best works on Trujillo are Germán E. Ornes, Trujillo: Little Caesar of the Caribbean (1958), and Robert D. Crassweller, Trujillo: The Life and Times of a Caribbean Dictator (1966), both of which are critical but factual. A very hostile study of his regime is Albert C. Hicks, Blood in the Streets: The Life and Rule of Trujillo (1946). Sander Ariza, Trujillo: The Man and His Country (1939), and Abelardo René Manita, Trujillo (5th rev. ed. 1954), are adulatory.

For more information on Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, visit Britannica.com.

Trujillo Molina, Rafael Leonidas (räfäĕl' lāōnē'thäs trūhē'yō mōlē'nä) , 1891–1961, president of the Dominican Republic (1930–38, 1942–52). Trained by U.S. marines during U.S. occupation of the country, he was army chief in the presidency of Horacio Vásquez, whom he ousted in 1930. He became dictator and retained power until his death even when not in the presidency. His autocratic, efficient, and ruthless regime accomplished considerable material progress. Terroristic methods were used, however, not only to repress Dominican opposition, but also against neighboring Haiti; in 1937, to stop Haitian infiltration, Dominican troops crossed the border and massacred between 10,000 and 15,000 Haitians. Generalissimo Trujillo was constantly embroiled in difficulties with other Caribbean countries, charging that plots were being hatched against him abroad. In 1956 rumor blamed the Trujillo regime for the disappearance from New York City of Jesús de Galíndez, a Columbia Univ. instructor who had sharply criticized Trujillo. Trujillo was assassinated in 1961.

Bibliography

See R. D. Crassweller, Trujillo: The Life and Times of a Caribbean Dictator (1966); J. de Galíndez, The Era of Trujillo (pub. after his disappearance, 1973).